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Saturday, July 26, 2014

The problem with melodrama is that it’s all too convenient
to take seriously. Plausibility can only
be stretched so far. The Call of the Green Bird[i]
by Alberta Hawse stretches it too far, and the whole bird comes crashing down.

The story follows a young Bedouin boy, Mi’kal –the prince of his tribe. But he’s not just prince of one little tribe
of tent dwelling Bedouins, he’s really the grandson of King Aretas of the
Nabateans. (And though it’s not specified in the novel,
based on the story’s timeline, it must be Aretas IV Philopatris.)

Coincidence follows coincidence. Convenience
follows convenience. If Mi’kal is ever
in danger, there is always another character conveniently located just a page
or two away to rescue him from the river, or the bandits, or the soldiers…. He is welcomed and acclaimed as a prince
(twice) and loaded with fortune and finds a beautiful, though impetuous, woman
to fall in love with. And she with him, of course.

Of course.

This is how a melodrama works.

And not only that, but one of his friends is the secretly-not-dead son of Mark
Antony, Alexander Helios. The twists of fortune
force Mi’kal to flee from Syria to Israel where he meets up with Judas Iscariot
and Barabbas (both members of the Zealots), Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and the Centurion
whose servant Jesus healed.

Everyone that Mi’kal meets as he stumbles through the story knows Jesus or
knows about him. He strikes out at
random hoping to meet up with Jesus and – of course – he does. Never mind the odds of finding a single
individual at random out of the population of the entire country; it’s a melodrama.

Everything is convenient. And everything
ends happily.

The shortcomings of a melodrama could be forgiven if the book had better
reflected the world of Jesus. The book
is described as “historical fiction” but it’s more fiction than history. The Call of the Green Bird is not much
more than a naïve evangelical impression of what Israel in the first century
was like based on Sunday school lessons, and the smallest modicum of historical
research.

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The artwork and music published on this blog are copyright 2010 - 2018 by Thatjeffcarter was here. All rights reserved. But I could be persuaded to let you use them. Contact me for permissions. "The views, comments, statements and opinions expressed on this Web site do not necessarily represent the official position of The Salvation Army." I am no longer with the Salvation Army, anyway.